Crown Point senior outside hitter Elle Schara has been down this road before.
One year after accumulating a multitude of honors as a junior, the Purdue recruit followed it up with an equally dominant final high school season.
“She never veered off course,” Crown Point coach Alison Duncan said. “She stayed on track and maintained her high level of motivation to be one of Indiana’s best volleyball players. Sometimes when kids receive awards junior year, and they’re recognized so highly, and they’re verbally committed and thinking about the next stage, they kind of flounder in senior year.
“Elle didn’t do that. She came in super focused, ready to go and ready to work — and still ready to become a better volleyball player and not misuse her time during her senior year. She worked on her leadership, tried to be more vocal on court, and I saw her applying different things this year. All of which is good because it means she’s thinking about how to become a better player and is getting ready for the next step.”
That step will come soon for Schara, the 2025 Post-Tribune Girls Volleyball Player of the Year, who will graduate a semester early and join the Boilermakers in January.
It has been a whirlwind for Schara, who recorded 571 kills, 389 digs and 73 aces to lead the Bulldogs (31-4) to a Class 4A regional title. She’s an All-America third-team pick by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, an Indiana Miss Volleyball finalist, an Indiana Senior All-Star, a 4A all-state first-team selection and the Duneland Athletic Conference MVP.
“I’m super proud of myself and my team,” Schara said. “None of this would’ve been possible without them. But I gave myself the week off since everything ended, and I’m just now getting back into it, preparing for college since I’m leaving in January, and trying to stay active.
“I’m super excited, obviously, because it’s an amazing opportunity. But as the time approaches, I’m getting a little more nervous.”
Schara’s teammates are excited for her too.
“She’s going to do amazing things,” Crown Point senior libero Bella Del Real said. “I can’t wait to watch her on TV. Growing up with her, being her teammate and playing next to her, she’s going to be on TV and I’m going to say, ‘That was my best friend I played volleyball with.’ It’s going to be so exciting to watch her be amazing as she always is.”
Crown Point’s Elle Schara spikes the ball against Chesterton during a Duneland Athletic Conference match in Crown Point on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
Del Real said she’ll miss Schara’s personality as much as her play.
“She is a goofy weirdo,” Del Real said. “I don’t know how to explain it. She just does things out of nowhere you would never expect.
“You don’t see it at all when she’s playing, but at practice she was the comedian. She would crack jokes no one else would laugh at, but she would still laugh. She was just so funny, and that brought a lot to our team.”
Duncan, who noted she has coached for “a long time now,” isn’t sure anyone can replicate Schara’s on-court production.
A two-time player of the year, Schara finished her Crown Point career with a program-record 2,051 kills, including a single-season record of 577 in 2024, and also totaled 1,401 digs, 217 aces and 115 blocks. She was the driving force behind four consecutive sectional titles and back-to-back regional titles.
“I don’t know if anybody is going to be able to beat her records,” Duncan said. “Getting over 2,000 kills is a lot. I don’t know if anybody can come in and have the kind of freshman year she had that’s necessary to beat it. She’s a special athlete.”
Noah Poser is a freelance reporter.
